Comparison guide
How to calculate food cost percentage: formula, worked example and tools
Disclosure: we make Larderly Restaurant Food Cost Sheet, one of the options below. This comparison is made from public information on each vendor's own pages, checked 2026-11-11; we did not receive anything from the other vendors.
Food cost percentage is food cost divided by food sales, times 100. For one dish: plate cost / menu price (USD 4.20 / USD 14.00 = 30%). For a month: (opening stock + purchases - closing stock) / food sales. If you only need a quick check on one dish, a free online calculator such as Supy's is enough; if you want a free spreadsheet, start with the 7shifts template; if you already count stock in an inventory system or need costs updated from invoices, a paid app such as meez or MarketMan fits better than a spreadsheet, including ours.
Prices checked 2026-11-11.
This page explains the food cost percentage formula with two worked examples (one dish and one month) and then compares free calculators, spreadsheet templates and paid recipe-costing apps you can use to repeat the calculation every month. The comparison is made from public information on each vendor's own pages, checked on 2026-11-11. We make one of the options (a spreadsheet), and we say where the others fit better.
| Option | Type | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Food Cost Calculator Template | free | USD 0 (free template) | Owners who want a free monthly food cost sheet in Excel and do not need built-in per-dish costing. |
| Free Food Cost Calculator | free | USD 0 (free online calculator) | A quick plate cost and price check for one dish. |
| Free Food Cost Template | free | USD 0 (free template) | People comfortable building their own formulas on top of a plain cost list. |
| meez | paid | Starter USD 19 per month billed annually or USD 24 per month billed monthly; Pro USD 89 per month billed annually or USD 119 billed monthly | Kitchens that want recipes, costing and scaling in one app and are fine paying monthly. |
| MarketMan | paid | Starter $249 per month; Growth $299 per month; Enterprise from $449 | Restaurants or groups that count stock regularly, use a POS and want recipe costs and actual vs. theoretical food cost in one system. |
| Larderly Restaurant Food Cost Sheet (ours) | paid | USD 29.99 one-time | Small independent restaurants, cafes and food trucks that cost their own menu and want plate cost plus a monthly food cost in one file without a subscription. |
How we compared
- Does it calculate food cost percentage per dish (plate cost / menu price), per period (opening stock + purchases - closing stock), or both
- Price as shown on the vendor's own page (free, one-time or per month)
- What you need to run it (browser, Excel or Google Sheets, an account)
- Whether it suggests a menu price for a target food cost percentage
- What it leaves out that you would have to do by hand
The options
Free Food Cost Calculator Template
A free Excel file (Food Cost Percentage Template.xlsx) from a restaurant scheduling software company. Its steps are: list food, beverage and overhead costs, add estimated monthly purchases, enter total revenue for the month, and read the food cost percentage.
Good:
- Free, and the page calls it a free restaurant food cost calculator for Excel
- Monthly view: costs, purchases and revenue in one sheet, with forecasts and actuals side by side
- Can be customized for your menu
Watch out:
- The template itself is a monthly sheet with no built-in per-dish plate costing or suggested menu price; the page describes building per-dish tabs by hand
- The page is also a sales page for 7shifts' scheduling software
Best for: Owners who want a free monthly food cost sheet in Excel and do not need built-in per-dish costing.
Free Food Cost Calculator
A free browser calculator for one menu item: enter the menu price, a target food cost %, and each ingredient's purchase price, quantity purchased and quantity used, and it shows the expected selling price, expected food cost, actual food cost % and expected profit.
Good:
- Free and runs in the browser, nothing to install
- Works out ingredient cost from purchase price and quantity used
- Shows the selling price that hits your target food cost %
Watch out:
- One menu item at a time; the page says period (inventory-based) food cost is covered in a separate article, not in this tool
- Units are limited to g, kg, ml and l on the form
- The page also shows a form asking for an email address and number of locations (the page does not say it is needed for the result)
Best for: A quick plate cost and price check for one dish.
Free Food Cost Template
A free template in Google Sheets, Excel and PDF formats with an item table (Item, QTY, Unit Cost, Total Cost), 30 pre-formatted rows and an automatic total.
Good:
- Free, in Google Sheets, Excel and PDF
- Very simple: quantity times unit cost, summed to a total
- Columns can be added or removed
Watch out:
- The template as described only totals ingredient costs; it does not calculate food cost percentage, opening and closing stock or a menu price, so you add those formulas yourself
Best for: People comfortable building their own formulas on top of a plain cost list.
meez
Recipe management software for professional kitchens. The Starter plan lists basic recipe costing, a recipe margin calculator and import/export of recipe and ingredient costs; inventory management starts at the Pro plan.
Good:
- Recipe costing and a recipe margin calculator from the Starter plan
- Inventory management on Pro and higher; the Premium plan can update costs from invoices
- 14-day free trial, per the page's FAQ
Watch out:
- Monthly subscription; no permanent free plan is listed
- Inventory is not in the Starter plan, so a monthly stock-based food cost needs Pro (USD 89 per month billed annually) or higher
Best for: Kitchens that want recipes, costing and scaling in one app and are fine paying monthly.
MarketMan
Restaurant inventory and purchasing software. All three plans list counts and transfers, real-time recipe costing, menu profitability, actual vs. theoretical reporting (counted stock against POS sales) and waste tracking.
Good:
- Recipe costing, stock counts and actual vs. theoretical food cost in every plan
- Compares counted inventory with POS sales, which a spreadsheet cannot do by itself
- Waste tracking included
Watch out:
- The highest price in this comparison, from $249 per month
- Actual vs. theoretical reporting depends on a POS integration
Best for: Restaurants or groups that count stock regularly, use a POS and want recipe costs and actual vs. theoretical food cost in one system.
Larderly Restaurant Food Cost Sheet (made by us)
One .xlsx workbook (works in Excel and when uploaded to Google Sheets, no macros) with 10 tabs: ingredients with pack size, pack price and yield %, 15 units, recipe and plate cost, food cost %, profit per plate, the price that hits your target food cost % (rounded up to your price step), a purchases log and a monthly tracker (opening stock + purchases - closing stock = food cost and food cost % of sales, month by month). One-time purchase.
Good:
- Covers both calculations on this page: per-dish food cost % with a suggested price, and the monthly stock-based food cost %
- One-time price instead of a monthly subscription
- Fictional sample data (6 dishes, 22 ingredients, 10 months), a 2-page quick-start PDF and check cells that flag unknown ingredients, wrong unit types and missing prices
Watch out:
- Not free: the free options above cost nothing
- Manual entry: no POS, invoice or supplier connection, so prices and stock counts are typed in by hand
- A spreadsheet file, not a shared multi-user app
Best for: Small independent restaurants, cafes and food trucks that cost their own menu and want plate cost plus a monthly food cost in one file without a subscription.
The food cost percentage formula
Food cost percentage = food cost / food sales x 100.
There are two versions. The per-dish (plate) version uses the ingredient cost of one portion and the menu price of that dish. The period version uses what you actually used in a month: opening stock + purchases - closing stock, which is your food cost (cost of goods sold), divided by food sales for the same month.
Use menu prices and sales without sales tax, and count food only (keep drinks in a separate beverage cost if you track them).
Worked example 1: one dish
A burger uses ingredients that cost USD 4.20 per plate (bun, patty, cheese, sauce, garnish, fries). It sells for USD 14.00.
Food cost % = 4.20 / 14.00 x 100 = 30%.
To find the price for a target, divide plate cost by the target: for a 28% target, 4.20 / 0.28 = USD 15.00. Check: 4.20 / 15.00 = 0.28 = 28%.
Worked example 2: one month
Opening stock on the 1st: USD 6,500. Purchases during the month: USD 18,200. Closing stock at the month's end count: USD 5,900.
Food cost = 6,500 + 18,200 - 5,900 = USD 18,800.
Food sales for the month: USD 62,000. Food cost % = 18,800 / 62,000 x 100 = 30.3%.
The closing stock of one month is the opening stock of the next, so you only count stock once per month.
Why the two numbers differ
The per-dish figure is what a plate should cost if every portion is exact. The monthly figure includes waste, over-portioning, staff meals, spoilage and price changes. If your dishes average 28% but the month comes out at 32%, the gap is food you paid for but did not sell. Tracking both, month by month, is how you find that gap.
Free tool or paid app?
A free calculator or template is enough to learn the formula and check a few dishes. A spreadsheet that holds all your dishes and a monthly tracker saves retyping every month. Paid apps such as meez or MarketMan make sense once you count stock often, want costs pulled from invoices or need actual vs. theoretical reports from your POS; they cost from USD 19 to USD 249 or more per month, as shown on their pricing pages.
This comparison was made from the vendors' public pages on 2026-11-11. Prices change, so check the linked pages before you buy.
Try it free first
Before buying anything, use the Free food cost and menu price calculator. It is free and needs no sign-up.
Questions
What is the formula for food cost percentage?
Food cost divided by food sales, times 100. For one dish use plate cost / menu price. For a month use (opening stock + purchases - closing stock) / food sales for that month.
How do I calculate food cost percentage for a month?
Add your opening stock value and the month's food purchases, subtract the closing stock value from your end-of-month count, and divide the result by the month's food sales. Example: (6,500 + 18,200 - 5,900) / 62,000 = 30.3%.
How do I set a menu price from a target food cost percentage?
Divide the plate cost by the target as a decimal. A USD 4.20 plate at a 28% target: 4.20 / 0.28 = USD 15.00.
What is a good food cost percentage?
It depends on the type of restaurant and menu. Square's guide gives one benchmark: full-service restaurants spend roughly 32 percent of each dollar on food and beverage costs. Compare your own figure month to month rather than against a single number.
Is there a free food cost calculator?
Yes. Supy has a free online calculator for one dish, 7shifts has a free Excel template for a monthly figure, and Spreadsheet Daddy has a free cost-list template. We also make a free food cost and menu price calculator, linked on this page.
Sources
- 7shifts: Free restaurant food cost calculator for Excel
- Supy: Free food cost calculator
- Spreadsheet Daddy: Free food cost template
- meez pricing
- MarketMan pricing
- Square: How to calculate your food cost percentage